Manchester City’s worrying run of form across all competitions continued as they succumbed to a 2-1 loss to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa in the Premier League. Second best throughout, Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions have now secured one win in 12 outings.
Emery’s men, who have now leapfrogged their opponents into sixth place in the Premier League standings, were quick out of the blocks and troubled Stefan Ortega’s goal on a couple of occasions within the first two minutes. The German international stood tall and thwarted all on-goal efforts.
Despite Guardiola’s men enjoying a lion’s share of the possession in the opening 15 minutes, it was the Midlands-based outfit who struck first. Youri Tielemans produced one of the passes of the season for a marauding Morgan Rogers, who squared the ball to an unmarked Jhon Duran.
The Colombia international made no mistake with his finish and dinked it over Ortega to give his side a 1-0 lead and Rogers doubled his side’s cushion with a well-taken finish just after the hour mark. Tieleman’s decoy run allowed John McGinn to find Rogers inside the City 18-yard box.
Formerly of the Citizens himself, the glittering youngster notched home their second of the encounter as the home contingent erupted into raptures as they came to terms with being 2-0 up against the reigning Premier League champions.
Phil Foden then scored in additional time to give the travelling supporters a glimmer of hope. Pouncing on Lucas Digne’s defensive error, the Englishman slotted home past goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez with ease.
| Aston Villa vs Manchester City – Match Statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | Statistic | Manchester City |
| 45 | Possession (%) | 55 |
| 11 | Shots | 12 |
| 6 | Shots on target | 6 |
| 5 | Corners | 4 |
| 5 | Saves | 4 |
| 3 | Yellow cards | 3 |
Match Highlights
Aston Villa Player Ratings
GK – Emiliano Martinez – 6/10
Booked at half-time for his war of words with Grealish and made three saves in the opening 45 minutes as he frustrated City’s frontline with his typical showing in between the sticks. Had very little to do of note though.
RB – Matty Cash – 6/10
Endured a difficult afternoon against the bright Grealish but managed to keep him quiet for the most part with some brilliant defending. Carded for his troubles.
CB – Ezri Konsa – 7/10
Marshalled the back line with ease and gave Haaland little to no joy from a centre forward perspective.
CB – Pau Torres – 7.5/10
Pivotal to Villa keeping a tight shape from a defensive standpoint and his range of passing always provided his side with plenty of options.
LB – Lucas Digne – 7/10
Kept Silva quiet in a performance that will go under the radar. There were no airs and graces about the Frenchman’s display: he did what was necessary against, on his day, one of the brightest players in the league.
CM – Youri Tielemans – 9/10
Produced a sensational pass in the build-up for Duran’s goal and was his side’s de facto tempo dictator.
CM – Boubacar Kamara – 8/10
Kamara went under the radar, thanks to the brilliance of Tielemans, with another brilliant display. He was stood unmarked in the City six-yard box but never received the ball from Cash.
CM – Amadou Onana – 6/10
A physical demon as always, but the Belgian looked a touch behind his central midfield partners.
RW – John McGinn – 6/10
Always offered his side an outlet on the right flank, but was too slow with his decision-making in the final third when Villa looked to pounce on a porous City defence.
ST – Jhon Duran – 8.5/10
Given the nod ahead of Ollie Watkins, the Colombian hotshot was bright from the off, pressing Man City defenders at every given opportunity. Despite being offside, he finished his second with confidence. Left the field of play to a standing ovation.
LW – Morgan Rogers – 9/10
Against his former employers, Rogers was at his glittering best, dancing through the City defenders with relative ease. Guardiola and his entourage will certainly be ruing their decision to let the 22-year-old leave now, won’t they?
Sub – Ollie Watkins (81′) – 4/10
Let off a shot soon after entering the fray and led the line well.
Sub – Emiliano Buendia (91′) – 3/10
Given little chance to impress.
Manchester City Player Ratings
GK – Stefan Ortega – 5/10
Prevented his side from conceding early on with a couple of solid stops and could do very little for both of Villa’s goals.
RB – Rico Lewis – 6/10
Often shifted into central midfield to add more steel to the away side’s engine room. He enjoyed very little joy in the middle of the park, often seen shrugged off the ball by the likes of Tielemans.
CB – John Stones – 5/10
Too slow to engage with Duran and, perhaps as a result of struggling with the persistence of Duran and Co, was replaced by his compatriot, Walker, at the half-time interval.
CB – Manuel Akanji – 5.5/10
Spotted jogging back out of possession, which would have irked fans of a Etihad Stadium persuasion.
LB – Josko Gvardiol – 5/10
As his side’s second-highest goalscorer, Gvardiol continued his prowess from an attacking perspective and had plenty of opportunities to score. Shifted centrally at half-time.
CM – Mateo Kovacic – 6/10
The Croat saw plenty of the ball in the affair’s opening stages, given they enjoyed plenty of possession, but he slipped up when allowing Rogers to run off him for Duran’s opener.
CM – Ilkay Gundogan – 5/10
Inaccurate in his passing and crossing, what the 34-year-old needs to do is play to his and his team’s strengths: playing quick, measured football. Replaced in favour of the quicker, more direct Savinho.
RW – Bernardo Silva – 4/10
An anonymous presence on the right wing. Lacked the necessary pace to exploit the outside space behind Digne.
CAM – Phil Foden – 5/10
Last season’s Premier League Player of the Year got a hat-trick last time out against Emery’s men – but this meeting was much less fruitful. Scored late on.
LW – Jack Grealish – 6.5/10
Subject to plenty of jeers from the Villa Park faithful, the out-of-sorts winger let off a wayward shot in the fifth minute but looked bright early on. Although he was City’s bright spark, that isn’t saying much.
ST – Erling Haaland – 4/10
Another passenger-like performance from City’s talisman, the talismanic Haaland – who has recently been starved of chances – looked to be out of ideas when City were on the attack. The Norway international looks a shadow of his former self.
Sub – Kyle Walker (45′) – 4/10
Given an opportunity to silence his recent critics, but was not alert enough to prevent Rogers getting a shot off, which led to Villa’s second of the afternoon.
Sub – Savinho (73′) – 3/10
Introduced to bring an injection of pace and intensity to City’s play. Struggled to have too much of an impact on proceedings.
Sub – Jeremy Doku (84′) – 3/10
Similarly to Savinho, the speedster struggled to match the intensity of the fixture.
Man of the Match
Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa)
For all of Duran’s pressing and Rogers’ brilliance while in possession of the ball, central midfielder Tielemans was central to everything Emery’s side managed to muster: from breaking up City’s attack to creating goalscoring opportunities of their own. Still an underrated piece of the Aston Villa puzzle, the Belgian waltzed about Villa Park like it was a walk in the park.
His involvement in the goal encapsulated everything about his upturn in performances since swapping Leicester City for Villa in the summer of 2023. What is so impressive is how easy he made the task of containing the likes of Foden and Silva – he did it all without breaking a sweat it seems, which is just a testament to how much he has come on leaps and bounds in recent times. A real, classy midfielder.
All statistics per FotMob – correct as of 21/12/14